Clifton council not yet ready to fill late member’s seat
CLIFTON – After the death of Councilwoman Lauren Murphy on Saturday, her colleagues said they will have to decide how to deal with the council vacancy, but not until a suitable mourning period has passed.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s meeting, council members said they had no plan to discuss the vacancy, just their late colleague.
Murphy had been undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in recent months.
Even as she was battling her illness, she remained involved in the council, attending meetings virtually. In October, she sponsored an event for the public to meet the candidates for the city Board of Education.
Murphy, who held an educational psychology degree from Kean University, was the executive director of Passaic County One Stop Career Center in Clifton. She was reelected to a third council term in 2022.
As a council member, she often cast the deciding vote, as the rest of the council was split 3-3 on many issues.
When she first ran for City Council in 2014, Murphy, who was the Passaic County Democratic Committee chairwoman, advocated for shifting the council election to November, which she said should increase turnout.
In her campaign, she ran on maintaining a high quality of life and increasing Police Department staffing to pre-recession levels. As a councilwoman, Murphy was involved in the homeless committee and “nearly every one of the city’s charitable groups,” former Mayor James Anzaldi said.
“In many ways, she was what a council person was supposed to be — to be a community leader, and she did it well,” he said.
Clifton council’s options
The City Council has few options when it comes to filling a vacancy: appoint a successor or leave the seat vacant until the next general election, officials said.
“There are no set rules,” said Clifton Mayor Ray Grabowski. He said the council may decide to abide by past practices and appoint the person who in the last general election finished as the first runner-up, or it “could also opt to decide let’s not fill the seat.”
The city elects all seven council members once every four years in November. In the most recent race, in November 2022, 17 candidates ran for election.
The first runner-up was Chris D’Amato, who finished eighth, more than 600 votes behind seventh-place finisher Councilwoman Mary Sadrakula and 15 votes ahead of Fahim Abedrabbo, who came in ninth.
Grabowski said that although he has yet to broach the topic with council members, he expects they will want to follow the tradition of appointing the eighth-place finisher until the next general election, when a candidate will be chosen to complete Murphy’s term, which expires at the end of 2026.
Grabowski himself was elected in the November 2015 special election, after his brother, Matt Grabowski, died while in office.
After Matt Grabowski’s death, the council chose 2014 eighth-place finisher Joseph Cupoli to fill the seat until an election could be held. Ray Grabowski was elected in that election.
Grabowski said the earliest the council is likely to discuss potential successors is the Feb. 6 council meeting and that it would wait until the following meeting to select a new member.
Grabowski said that although he has yet to broach the topic with council members, he expects they will want to follow the tradition of appointing the eighth-place finisher until the next general election, when a candidate will be chosen to complete Murphy’s term, which expires at the end of 2026.
First runner-up
When reached and asked if he would accept the vacant position if it is offered to him, D’Amato said it’s important for the city first to consider the feelings of Murphy’s family by waiting an appropriate time for mourning.
He said he has not yet been contacted about the vacancy and would accept if it is offered.
“When the time is appropriate to fill that vacancy, should the council choose to honor the will of the voters, I would proudly step up and serve the city of Clifton as a member of its municipal council,” D’Amato said.